


Dream Chaser

by ElopeToTheSea



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Dreams and Nightmares, Fluff, M/M, Sleeping Beauty Elements, alternative universe, dream protector AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-30 21:04:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20103607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElopeToTheSea/pseuds/ElopeToTheSea
Summary: Kairi had been obsessed with fairy tales when they were younger. Cinderella had been her favorite. But his younger self had never fully found the charm. Nothing quite made sense. Birds helping princesses? Kisses reverting apple curses? It was just too weird. Yet, no other story had caught his eye more than Sleeping Beauty.‘How can someone be beautiful while they sleep?’ he had asked Kairi during a sleepover. ‘Everyone knows people look silly when they sleep!'Even Kairi had reluctantly agreed with him that time.He owed her an apology.





	Dream Chaser

**Author's Note:**

> uhm, hey...
> 
> im kinda late to the party....but better late than ever...?

It was once upon a dream, as some would say.

He remembers a song. A tune he never knew, yet could recognize in an instant if played back. The details were fuzzy; blurry around the corners. There was a wide sky, with colors that seemed to blend like a watercolor picture the longer he stared. Underneath that sky, there had been a shore with pristine water shining as if stars had fallen into it.

The reflection of a boy.

_His_ reflection. That of the sky.

And another thing.

A presence by his side. One that felt as real as it felt untrue. Maybe too perfect to be true, or too true to be so perfect. Regardless, he remembered it. So maybe, it did happen. Or maybe it didn’t. Because no matter how hard he tried to conjure up the image in his head, it slipped from him. A cloud of smoke, too immaterial to be given form, too ephemeral to catch.

Maybe it **_was_** fake.

For the longest time, that was what he had thought. What his mind told him.

Until he closed his eyes and remembered the feeling.

_That, _at the very least, was real. Even if the memory was almost gone, his heart remembered. Fresh painting in the walls of his heart, too recent, too real.

What was it?

Happiness? Not quite.

Happiness was Christmas morning and reaching for dozens of presents underneath the tree. It was laughing with your friends until your tummy hurt. It was a rollercoaster and ice cream on a hot summer day. Or winning a race you thought you weren’t going to win. 

Happiness was explosive. Laughter in a bottle, that fills you in a second with something so overwhelming _good_ that you forget about the world outside you. It lasts a couple of minutes, that burst, lingering softly until it fades back into the back of your mind.

The feeling Sora remembers is…different.

It’s quiet, soft. Never going away as he sits at the edge of the beach he_ thinks_ he remembers. Muted but constant, a feeling of peace that never truly goes away. There was laughter hidden in between the rumor of the sea. A warm body against his and hushed secrets spilled at the edge of the world.

It was happiness that hurt to remember. Because it felt so absolutely right in his memories…but as he opened his eyes to stare at the open wide sky, he would come to realize that it was nothing more than an illusion. Not there. Unable to fit in his hand.

It was a happiness he couldn’t reach.

He couldn’t even remember it. Not completely.

“Thought you’d be here!” a voice called, pulling him out from his thoughts. A familiar face, hiding the sun above, popped up. Blue eyes stared back. “Lazing around, huh?”

“Not,” he replied, sticking out his tongue. “I was just resting my eyes.”

“Sure thing,” Kairi said, her grin spreading. “Once you’re up from dream land, come back to the main island! It’s getting late!”

“What? It’s too early!” Sora complained.

“Some of us have things to do, you know?” Kairi countered, hands on her hips. “We’ve been here all day! It’s a long row back to the main island, we should go before the sun starts to set.”

Sora let out a sigh. Despite how much he didn’t want to admit it, his friend was right. He couldn’t stay all day at the edge of the beach they used as a playground. And the rowing was easier when the sun could still light the way home.

But the sight of the sun breaking towards the horizon was too beautiful.

“I’ll catch you up later, I swear,” he promised, as he shifted so he was underneath the shade of the tree once again.

“Sora,” Kairi’s tone was stern. Like a mother’s, about scold her child. “You’ve been staying out late, on the beach the entire week! This can’t be good for you.”

“I’m sorry Kairi,” Sora replied, trying to give her a comforting smile. He wasn’t sure if he was succeeding or not, as her face remained impassive. “It’s just…I don’t want to miss the sunset.”

Kairi sighed, giving up on persuading her stubborn friend to go back early.

“Alright,” Kairi said. “But don’t fall asleep again. Next time, I won’t come searching for you in the middle of the night.”

“Okay, okay.”

“I mean it, Sora!” Kairi insisted, walking away towards the boats. “Get back home soon!”

He smiled as he saw his friend go. Then, he turned his head towards the ocean. The sun had started to go down, and the slightest tints of color began dancing through the sky. 

It was during twilight when Sora felt the closest to that memory. Like it was almost real.

In between red and hues of purple, among the oranges and pink that dusted the clouds, he could find a feeling blooming deep inside his heart. A memory, woven in between, would surface along with it. That same memory that slipped past his fingers. That exact same memory he chased after, time and time again.

In it, he was always the same age. Around five, young and uncertain, too confused by what was happening to fully understand.

But now, as he stared towards the changing horizon, he realized that he knew even less than back then.

His eyes gleamed, clouds turning infinite right before him. He raised his hand, trying to sink in his fingers into the sky. Drag the colors and paint –a memory, a face –, across the canvas that seemed to stretch towards a place he didn’t know.

A name, on the tip of his tongue. Sora felt his throat tighten up in a knot, unable to control the tears that spilled.

He wanted to remember. He didn’t want to keep chasing something so fleeting that it would vanish as soon as the twilight was over. Why couldn’t he hold it? Why couldn’t he just…

…remember?

Before he knew it, the sunset was over. Behind itself, it left a deep blue sky, like the deepest parts of the ocean, filled with bright stars to illuminate what was left of the world. Sora stared at it, wondering if what they said in books was true. Were there really figures in the sky? He really couldn’t find them, no matter how hard he tried.

And it was then that, for a minute, he saw it.

A shooting star.

Sora let out a gasp.

_Make a wish! _

He closed his eyes, just to hesitate a moment.

What could he wish for?

His mind wandered towards the memory. Weird and confusing, yet so sweet it tasted like candy. A small smile tugged at his lips.

“I want to remember,” he said, voice barely above a whisper. “I want to know…where did that memory come from?”

He opened his eyes. The deep blue sky was staring back, as quiet as it had been before.

“Please,” he begged to the glittering stars above, desperate for an answer. “It just feels so right! I want to know…I feel like it’s something…important.”

How had he been able to forget such a thing? He felt like he was betraying something more than a memory. Something he treasured far more.

And maybe wishing at a shooting star for a chance to remember was childish. But it was the only option he had, and that alone was enough for him to believe – from the bottom of his heart – that it would come true. It _had_ to.

The rustling of the leaves in the middle of the night. From the shadows of the trees on the island, Sora could sense something. He wanted to convince himself it was simply an animal that had wandered to the beach, but maybe that was dangerous too.

It was getting late, he ought to return home either way. He tried not to cross paths with the strange thing coming from the depths of the tree. Unfortunately, the sound just became louder the closer he reached for the boat tied to the pier.

Until it finally came out from the foilage, startling Sora.

“Please don’t eat me!” he cried, using his arms as protection.

When nothing attacked him in the immediate second after, he dared open his eyes.

Laying motionless on the ground was a body. Unmoving ion the sand, paralyzed face down. Sora stared, while the breeze coming through from the ocean whistled and moved his hair in the air. The rustling of the waves was the only thing that could be heard, yet Sora felt himself go deaf.

His eyes were fixated on the silhouette, frozen in place as he examined from afar.

Without noticing it, Sora stepped closer. Small steps, taking him farther from the shore. His shoes sinking on the sand, his body following instinct. He dropped his weight forward, landing on his knees to take a closer look.

His hands reached out. It twitched and hesitated. Not scared for the potential danger a stranger in the middle of the night could present. He had never been able to jump to an immediate bad opinion of someone, and someone who needed help? There was no way he could stand by and not help.

No. It wasn’t that.

It was something stranger. Rooted deep inside him. An anxiety, like that before a rollercoaster. Intensely filled with a fear that you know isn’t needed, and the adrenaline on the top of your throat.

Sora felt odd as he reached to touch the stranger’s face. With careful fingers, he moved away from the stray strands of hair that covered the mysterious person.

He blinked, a soft gasp in his mouth.

Closed eyes, with long eyelashes that touched the cheeks on their face. The person was unconscious, but Sora could still feel his heart beat like crazy.

Kairi had been obsessed with fairy tales when they were younger. Cinderella had been her favorite. But his younger self had never fully found the charm. Nothing quite made sense. Birds helping princesses? Kisses reverting apple curses? It was just too weird. Yet, no other story had caught his eye more than Sleeping Beauty.

‘_How can someone be beautiful while they sleep_?’ he had asked Kairi during a sleepover. ‘_Everyone knows people look silly when they sleep!_”

Even Kairi had reluctantly agreed with him that time.

He owed her an apology.

The person before him was _beautiful_. In every sense of the word. It was as if time had stopped. The constant song of the sea muted against his ears.

As if he had taken liquid courage, Sora reached forward. The tip of his finger touching the cheeks of the stranger. It was a moment, an instant. Something that should have been inconsequential. But it wasn’t.

Light filled the air, and _the_ memory flashed through his eyes.

The wide sky, stretching into infinity as the shore’s light flickered through. Sora’s laughter, the feeling of being complete. That strange sense of happiness that goes beyond what he had thought happiness was. The breeze, the smell of salt and the twilight perpetually on the horizon.

And his hand. Stretched towards something, caressing a figure he couldn’t quite make.

“I love you, ––––!” his voice said. It was high, still childish and young. It was full of laughter like periwinkles in full bloom. Was that really his voice? “ ––––, you’re my best friend!”

The name was muddled. Distorted in the air, full of smoke that wouldn’t take form. It was like watching everything through a broken looking glass. Missing pieces, jagged ends, askew fragments that glitched like an old tape.

But amidst the confusion, the anxiety and the fear of forgetting again, Sora’s sight cleared.

Wide eyes sparkled as white filled his vision. Deep blue eyes were staring at him, as the feathers of the extended wings flew unto the edges of the beach. They were radiant, shining like neon lights, fluorescent and magnetic. Sora had never seen eyes like that before.

Then they closed. Sora’s hands reached to touch the winged horse that simply relaxed as the air gre chillier.

“_Pegasus_,” his child-voice called again. “Don’t leave again, okay? Promise…”

And just like that, the memory shattered.

Sora was brought back to reality. With the ocean rustling by his feet, the air blowing towards the east, and an unconscious person before him.

All Sora could do for solid minutes, was blink away the tears. What had been _that_? Was it a distant memory? Or a far-off dream? His mind couldn’t tell.

The man stirred, making Sora finally pull himself together.

Regardless of what he had felt, the man was unconscious and alone. He reached again, hoping the memory wouldn’t return. It didn’t. He carried the man until they were on the boat, and he began rowing. Desperation lowly thrumming in his chest. Part scared the man wouldn’t wake up, and the other, nervous he would.

Sora took a deep breath as he reached the shore of the main island. There, for some reason, Kairi was standing, nervousness present on her face.

“There you are! I told you to come back soon!” she tried to reprimand as soon as he touched land. “I was about to go searching for you-!”

She froze.

“Get help,” Sora said, trying to carry the unconscious man away from the ocean. “He needs help…”

The color had drained from her cheeks as she stared at the man Sora was carrying. She nodded quickly, as Sora collapsed to the ground. At times like this, he wished he was the slightest bit stronger. Just enough to help others more.

The stranger blinked awake for a moment.

“Sora…?” it said, barely a whisper against the wind.

And then he closed his eyes again.

Sora was left there, mind reeling as the adults came rushing to help the two kids. He…he knew his name.

Why did this complete stranger know his name? 

**Author's Note:**

> have i learnt anything from jumping around fandoms writing silly fics? absolutely not and if i did i chose to forget. 
> 
> i fell in love with that picture of sora and riku as rini and pegasus from sailor moon, what can i say? It's lovely and breathtaking. 
> 
> I lowkey wanted to make this a very short one-shot but i underestimated my brain's ability to complicate everything. Hopefully, i won't take long to update. I know summer vacation is almost over though, so i get nervous. 
> 
> wanna know a secret? i wanted to name the raft dreamchaser! it sounds kinda magical doesn't it?
> 
> i might be posting updates on my creative process @elopetothesea if you wanna drop by, btw. everyone is welcome!


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